Your Strength to My Weakness
by Elenhin
Summary: Watching the Dwarves spar Bilbo thinks about what he was told about how they chose their weapons. So he asks why Kili chose the bow and why Fili instead carries two swords. One shot


Author's Note:This is a story from the Hobbit. Movie inspired. Some chose their weapons on their strength, while some chose for their weakness.

Warning: _The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen._

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit, nor the actual dwarves. All I own is my own three inch high Fili and Kili and they shall suffer naught for my stories…

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**_Your Strength To My Weakness_**

Bilbo watched eagerly and curiously as the Dwarves sparred while they waited for Bombur to cook their meal. Thorin had been sparring with Dwalin who was probably the chief warrior amongst them the way Bilbo saw it. With his two axes he was a mighty warrior and yet Thorin had an immense skill with his sword. He was not using his oaken shield with Dwalin at the moment, and Dwalin carried no shield. His axes and his war hammer were quite enough the way Bilbo realized.

Óin and Glóin were battling with each other and were quite evenly matched he noted. It was hardly surprising since they were brothers and had trained together since they were little Dwarflings. Bifur and Bofur had paired off though Bofur was smiling and grinning a lot more than what Bifur was. Bifur was just barking short commands that Bilbo could not understand.

Nori had slipped away to scout the area and Dori was talking with Balin. Both of them were formidable warriors but claimed to be a little too old to spend the better part of the evening sparring. They had spent a few minutes on it, then sat down to enjoy a pipe.

Kili had taken Ori with him to set up a target and while the dark haired Dwarf used his bow Ori used his catapult. Kili was giving him helpful advice and even took the weapon from time to time to demonstrate what he meant. He was a really good instructor Bilbo noted, calm and gentle. He urged him on more by encouragement than by anything else. Ori was unsure of himself and Kili guided him with the gentle teasing of an older brother, in spite of only being a younger brother himself.

Dwalin was sparring with Fili now, and Bilbo found himself amazed. Two axes against two swords. Dwalin had brute strength far superior to Fili but the younger Dwarf had more speed and a little more spring to his steps. Dwalin however did not appear to be gentle and Bilbo winced as he saw him swipe the blond Dwarf off his feet with a mighty swing. Fili leapt to his feet while Kili paused long enough in his own lecture to laugh. Fili had lost hold of one of his swords but Dwalin offered him no quarter but pressed on while Fili sought both to defend himself and reclaim the weapon. Finally when he was close enough he shifted the sword he still had to the other hand and leapt sideways, tucking and rolling so that his free hand found the swords. He grasped it, but not before Dwalin dealt a blow to the back of his shoulder with the flat of his axe.

Fili got to his feet with a sheepish smile and Dwalin met him with a glare. He swung again and Fili had no choice but to retreat backwards to avoid it. Dwalin pressed on and Bilbo bit his lip. He never let up for even a second until Fili stumbled and fell. Then he put a heavy boot on his shoulder, keeping him down.

"An enemy will offer no mercy," Bofur who was close enough to Bilbo to speak stated. "And by doing it Dwalin would do the lad no favor."

"Seems somewhat cruel though," Bilbo could accept the wisdom of the words, but it still seemed harsh to him.

"Aye, but the orcs and goblins are crueler still," Bofur mused. "Dwalin seeks only to keep the lad alive, and it is needed I would say. Them boys have skill superior to their years, but not the discipline to use it correctly. They need to learn if they wish to grow older."

Bilbo nodded, it was true, and Dwalin now that he had made his point helped Fili to his feet so that the two of them could spar again.

Bombur declared the meal ready and they all took their food, Thorin first while Bilbo stood last in line with Kili and Fili. The two young Dwarves pushed him to take his share ahead of them, both still laughing. The three of them sat next to Bofur and Balin so Bilbo decided it was a chance to still his curiosity.

"How did you chose your weapons?" he wanted to know. "I've been told only that a Dwarf will chose based on both his weakness and his strength."

"That is true," Balin nodded. "You need to consider both when you chose."

"Yes, it makes sense to me, and I understood as much," Bilbo nodded. "But how do you find out what your strength and weakness is? I remember that the bow took a quick eye and steady hand, and that makes perfect sense to me."

"It's true," Fili declared. "We both had slingshots when we were young, Kili was a natural. He hardly ever missed."

"So it made sense," Kili grinned. "I like it, and I'm good with it."

"But do Dwarves commonly use bows?" Bilbo wanted to know.

"Nah, but them two wouldn't do what the common Dwarf does," Bofur chuckled. "They're of the royal line remember, can't be common."

Fili snorted and Kili tossed a pebble at him.

"Most Dwarves are not suited for the bow," Balin smiled patiently. Like a teacher explaining something to his student. "Our eyes tend to go bad with age. We are built for mines and caverns, and the bow is of little use inside a mine. Kili has the sharp eyes of the youth, and sharper still than many as young."

The dark haired youth drew himself up at that and gave a cocky grin.

"And you do not?" Bilbo asked Fili.

"I can shoot if I have to, and I've a fairly good aim," Fili shrugged.

"But it is not his skill," Balin cut in. "He shoots faster than he thinks and does not consider the target. It's why he shot his uncles winter gear when he was young."

"Oh yes," Bilbo giggled as he remembered having been told that, and the others laughed. Even Fili chuckled at the memory. He hadn't been thinking at all, he saw them move in the wind and let his arrow fly. Poor judgment on his part but excusable in a small Dwarfling. Thorin had not been happy though, he'd shot them clean through, something commonly referred to as the laundry shooting incident.

"He needs more time to aim than you would have in battle, so no, it's not his strength," Balin went on. "Now, Kili, he truly excels at it. I have rarely seen anyone better."

"So the bow is your strength then," Bilbo mused. "And the swords are yours?" he turned to Fili.

"Kili chose his weapon for his strength, Fili chose his for his weakness," Balin mused and Bilbo blinked confused.

"How can two swords be a weakness?" he wanted to know.

"Two swords are not a weakness, one sword would be," Fili stated, holding out his right arm. "My arm is my weakness, so I carry two swords instead of one."

"I do not understand," Bilbo looked between them in utter confusion.

"We had a harsh life after our home was lost," Balin told him, his voice tired and sad. "And it was the hardest for the young ones. Some never lived, some lived but were suffering new plagues. Kili was born much too small, and was very slow to grow. Though you would not think it now," he added with a wry grin and the dark haired Dwarf blushed. Fili groaned as if he knew what came next, and likely he did Bilbo thought. "He grew finally, but it took many years. Fili was a very sickly child instead. Always catching sick and he was slow to recover."

"Oh," Bilbo couldn't imagine it. The Shire was full of strong healthy babies. He had not realized just how harsh life must have been for the Dwarves.

"Yes, it was hard," Balin nodded.

"Bad days, hopefully soon over," Bofur put in.

"Hopefully yes," Balin confirmed. "We were not certain if he would live, but he had the fighting heart of his blood line and it showed." He smiled proudly and now Fili gave a sheepish grin.

"So, was it because you were ill your arm is weak?" Bilbo frowned. That part didn't quite make sense.

"No, it was an accident," Fili shrugged. "I was injured."

"A serious injury," Balin added. "At first we doubted if the arm could be saved, and it needed a very long time to heal."

"He had it strapped to his chest, so he wouldn't move it," Kili put in helpfully. "And he couldn't play either because he had to be so careful not to hurt it."

"Oh," Bilbo frowned again. "I'm sorry."

"It is a long time since," Fili chuckled. "And of no matter now."

"He had just started his training, but we had to stop it," Balin explained. "And take his training sword so he wouldn't be tempted to use it. But we allowed him to keep his wooden one, so he would not lose hope. We never realized he was using it to train."

"I was afraid I would forget what I had already learned, so I would practice with my left arm, just to remind myself," Fili grinned. "Eventually I became good with it."

"Quite good, though we would have put an end to it had we known," Balin scowled at him fondly. "Foolish lad. But it paid off I would say. When his arm had healed and we started to train in earnest it was very weak and he could only hold his sword for barely a minute at a time. When he tired, he'd take it in his left instead. Kept going that way, took us all by surprise."

"You do what you have to," Fili shrugged. "And I had plenty of time to train since no one would really play with me."

"Why not?" Bilbo certainly could not imagine a child without a playmate. Especially not given how friendly and kind Fili always was. "Because you were the heir?" he asked. It was the only reason he could imagine.

"Hardly," Fili snorted with amusement. "It's like Kili said, I wasn't allowed to play. Dwarflings play by wrestling and fighting as much as anything else, and I wasn't allowed to, couldn't do much of it anyway with my arm strapped to my chest. If you can't wrestle, they won't play with you."

"Mum and everyone were always telling us we had to be careful and not bump his arm or anything because we might hurt it worse," Kili put in. "We couldn't do anything at all," he gave Fili an accusing look. "Mum would get mad if one of us even pushed you or threw just a tiny rock at you."

"Because if you had pushed him, he might have fallen, and if he fell, he might have fallen on his arm in which case there might have been no way to save it," Balin explained patiently. Bilbo got the impression he had been saying the same thing back then, many times every day most likely.

"It worked out alright, healed well enough," Fili shrugged. "Hardly notice it anymore."

"If you had done what you were told, you might not have noticed it at all by now," Balin scolded but he was smiling.

"How did it happen, if you don't mind me asking," Bilbo asked carefully. It could be hard to tell with the Dwarves, but Fili did not appear to mind talking about it.

Indeed Fili grinned but Bilbo noticed that Dwalin's face was like thunder.

"My own stupid fault really," Fili shrugged. "I was told to keep close but strayed. We were traveling and there were rumors of Orcs. I was just old enough to train with a metal blade so I believed myself ready for them, so I went scouting around the fire. There were Orcs alright, but I don't remember any of it. I sincerely doubt I as much as nicked any of them. Dwalin saved me, risking his own life for my foolish hide. A debt I can never repay." He lowered his head and his voice was barely a whisper at the last few words. Bilbo's head snapped up to look at Dwalin. Now he could tell why he had seemed so angry when Fili told it. The old warrior blamed himself for allowing the Dwarfling coming to harm. It was clear to see, and yet Fili who had been just a wee Dwarfling blamed himself for the risk Dwalin took to save him.

Kili looked as cheerful as ever, apparently unconcerned by what was going on around him. Well, Kili rarely appeared concerned by such trivial matters Bilbo had noticed.

He could understand what they meant now though, Kili certainly had his strength and it was an impressive on. He was good with the bow, very good. Perhaps there were Elves who were better but Elves were built for it and Dwarves were not. In his eyes, that made it all the more impressive.

Fili's skill with the two blades was equally impressive knowing how he must have suffered and struggled for it. Not only recovering from the injury, but still wanting to fight. To train himself to fight when he couldn't even have known his arm would heal.

Then there was Dwalin who was fiercely protective of the two young Dwarves, even while he sought to let them be the warriors they had been trained to be. That was probably the hardest task of all. Knowing when to protect them and when to let them fight for themselves.

Never had he been so glad to have been raised in the safety of the Shire, but he was also glad to have gotten to know the Dwarves, strengths and weaknesses both he was glad to know them.

**The End**

_Please review, the Cricket is hungry…_


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